In Dazu, a Race Against Time and the Elements

By

Lee Lawrence

Updated Aug. 30, 2005 11:59 p.m. ET

Dazu, southwest China

Guo Xingjian needs all the help he can get. As curator of the Art Museum of Dazu Rock Carvings, he is responsible for some 50,000 figures sculpted into 75 sandstone cliffs spread over 540-square miles in southwest China. Most of the carvings are 800 to 1,100 years old, and they are being ravaged by time, water, and air pollution. Which probably explains why, in his office, Mr. Guo not only has shelves filled with...